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2013 Race? Mayor Says Don’t Ask About It

Count at least one New Yorker who does not want to talk about the 2013 mayor’s race — Michael R. Bloomberg.

Always persnickety when it comes to the press, a weary Mayor Bloomberg added yet another caveat on Thursday to the many rules that govern his news conferences: Do not ask about my would-be successors.

“I’m not going to spend the next year answering ‘what do you think’ of every potential candidate’s ideas, whether they’re good, bad, whether I agree with them or not,” Mr. Bloomberg said in an abrupt soliloquy during an event in Dumbo, Brooklyn.

“I’m going to spend my time being mayor,” Mr. Bloomberg said, adding, “And if that’s not acceptable to any member of the press, I would suggest you just don’t bother to come to the press conferences, because I’m not going to call on you.”

It is not unusual for the City Hall press corps to laugh — nervously or otherwise — after Mr. Bloomberg’s more bellicose remarks, and the mayor, at that point, was not pleased to hear a few titters.

“You may think it’s funny, but I don’t happen to think it’s funny,” he said scoldingly. “I think this city has got too many things to do and there are too many people who need help in this city for us to play silly games.”

The mayor laid out his new restrictions after reporters had apparently asked one too many questions about tax proposals from contenders for City Hall.

Mr. Bloomberg had been highly critical this week of a plan from Bill de Blasio, the public advocate, that would institute an income tax surcharge on New York City’s wealthy residents to pay for education, calling the idea “dumb.” But the mayor’s remarks served only to fuel the debate over the proposal, rather than to squash it.

It is common for the mayor to dismiss proposals from candidates, saying their ideas are often meant to sway the electorate rather than be discussed as serious policy.

Mr. Bloomberg did, however, respond to a New York Post report on Thursday suggesting that Rudolph W. Giuliani could seek another term as mayor. Mr. Bloomberg said that Mr. Giuliani would more likely be a contender in 2017, rather than in 2013 — if at all.

Mr. Bloomberg added: “I just said I don’t want to waste my time in the next year on this contest. I don’t want to waste the next five years on that one!”

A version of this article appears in print on October 12, 2012, on page A24 of the New York edition with the headline: 2013 Race? Mayor Says Don’t Ask About It. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe